Google+ gets a 'goodie basket' of changes

You can dial down the noise at last

Google has announced a 'goodie basket' full of Google+ changes – including a way to dial down the noise and a redesigned Google bar.

The social network got off to a promising start, but Google is aware that all the good work will be for nought if it cannot keep building audience.

So, a raft of changes will certainly be welcomed, especially the headlining feature that allows you to, in Google's words, 'graphic equalize' your stream.

Noisy

In our words that means making the interesting people louder and the spam merchants we follow for the occasional nugget of insight a little quieter.

"When viewing the stream for a particular circle, you'll now see a slider at the top that lets you adjust how posts from that circle should be blended into the main stream," explains Google's Bradley Horowitz on the company blog.

"That way you'll never miss a post from that special someone, and you can tweak these settings to form your own "perfect stream".

Other features include a redesigned notifications system allowing sneak previews and an easier way to check out what has changed since your last visit along with changes to the way in which brand and business pages are administrated.

Bevy of photo improvements

Last but not least is a 'bevy of improvements' to the photo experience – which was a much-needed change for the social network.

"This design makes the photo the hero letting the content itself shine through. And we're introducing a completely new photo-tagging experience that's both fun and fluid, and lets you quickly focus on the people in your photos."

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Global Editor-in-Chief

Patrick (Twitter) is Global Editor-in-Chief for techradar, and has been with the site since its launch in 2008. He is a longstanding judge of the T3 Awards, been quoted or seen on everything from the The Sun to Sky News and is on the #CoolBrands Council. He started his career in football, making him one of approximately one journalists to have covered both a World Cup final and an iPhone launch.